Sanatana Dharma Remark Row: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday demanded an apology from the Congress and INDIA alliance leaders over the ‘eradicate Sanatana Dharma’ remark made by Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, according to ANI reports.
“Congress ally DMK is insulting Sanatan Dharma. Allies of the INDIA coalition have kept silent on this. Why is Gehlot ji silent, and Sonia ji silent? Congress and INDIA should apologize,” said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh while flagging off BJP’s ‘Parivartan Sankalp Yatra’ from Ramdevara in Jaisalmer.
DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin’s allegation that Sanatan Dharma is against social justice and should hence be eradicated has kicked off a political storm.
However, the Tamil Nadu Minister remained defiant in his stance on Monday and said, “The day before yesterday I spoke at a function about it (Sanatana Dharma). Whatever I said, I’ll repeat the same thing again and again…I included all the religions and not just Hindus…I spoke condemning the caste differences that’s all…”
Likening Sanatan Dharma to coronavirus, malaria, and fever caused by dengue virus and mosquitoes, Udhayanidhi said such things should not be opposed but destroyed.
In his address at a meeting of the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association here on Saturday, Udhayanidhi said Sanatan is against equality and social justice.
Udhayanidhi said the very name Sanatan is from Sanskrit. “What is the meaning of Sanatan? It is eternal, that is, it cannot be changed; no one could pose any question and that is the meaning.” Sanatan divided people on the basis of caste, he alleged.
Udhayanidhi further said on the microblogging site ‘X’, “Sanatan Dharma is a principle that divides people in the name of caste and religion.” Uprooting Sanatan Dharma is upholding humanity and human equality, the DMK leader claimed.
He said he stood firmly by every word he had spoken on behalf of the oppressed and marginalized people who suffer due to Sanatan Dharma.
Udhayanidhi, who also holds the sports development portfolio, alleged that while Sanatan enslaved women and did not allow them to step out of their homes, they are today making achievements in sports and many women are also financially independent.
“What did Sanatan do to women? It pushed women, who lost their husbands, into fire (the erstwhile practice of Sati), it tonsured the heads of widows and made them wear white saris. Child marriages too happened.”
(With ANI inputs)
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Updated: 05 Sep 2023, 06:54 AM IST
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